Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)

Even though I loved Vice City, I have to admit: San Andreas is superior in almost every department. This game remains relevant even today, 21 years after release.

I won't get into details as there are already plenty of reviews analyzing this game to death. The story and the characters are great but imo the best part about SA is the map. Not necesarily the size (4 times bigger than VC/III), but the diversity is impressive. You had 3 different cities + the countryside + the desert with no loading screens. Also you had at least one radio station fitting each region:

K-Rose -> Countryside

K-DST -> Desert

SF-UR -> San Fierro

Master Sounds 98.3/Radio X -> Las Venturas

Radio Los Santos -> Los Santos (duh)

It took me almost 250 hours to 100% this masterpiece, and this is the main reason why I was having fun until the end.

PS: sorry for spamming all these screenshots.

Just one more ;)

I played it a bunch on android and for the most part it really holds up. The world design might not be as expansive and intricate as in modern titles, but that makes it easier to get more familiar with it. The radio is simply phenomenal, featuring a great variety of music and talk shows with funny DJs. The story and characters also are very engaging, threading the needle between goofy and serious.

Missions can become repetitive in the later parts of the game and checkpoints are a bit too sparse for my liking, and eventually I stopped playing before finishing it (in fact, I don't think I ever finished a GTA game) but I'm still surprised at how good this is.

Playing GTA: San Andreas and Cyberpunk 2077 really highlights that one thing that is really missing from all open world titles is good radio stations. CP2077 radio stations are utter crap; only music, and not very enticing or varied at that. I remember Saints Row had radio stations with DJs and station idents, but they were still a bit shallow and not reactive.

I love that in GTA SA the radio changes with time or missions, even mentioning things that happened in the game.

Gone to visit another part of the family and played more on the plane.

Again, I'm surprised at how small the open world actually is. But that's a good thing because you can actually get to know the city(ies). You quickly stop relying 100% on the minimap and start being able to navigate the streets like you would in real life.

Now tha to think about it, I don't remember the original version having routing capabilities.

The story is engaging with fun characters, but the female characters are horribly written. Or at least the relationships. You rescue a girl form a flaming building you set on fire and she's automatically your girlfriend. You then meet another woman and steal stuff with her and literally the next time you talk to her she's also your partner. It's like the writers assumed that it's not possible for a male character to have a relationship with a woman that is not lover or sister.

I'm playing this a bit because it was free on mobile with netflix and I'm visiting the in-laws so I don't have a lot to do.

The radio is as awesome as I remember and the core gameplay is still kisnof fun. But it really shows its years. The game is riddled with dumb busywork and mini games and after half a dozen missions it is still tutorialising new mechanics. One mission is to buy clothes, which incidentally is a slow process of clicking on the item, eating for you character to come out of the closet to preview and then waiting for him to go back when you see it's hideous colours. There are stealth missions too?

I was surprised at how small the city is. I remember it being this huge sandbox but by modern standards it feel puny. The starting city is no more than a dozen blocks wide.

Everything about this game is just iconic. The characters, the cities, the gameplay, the music, I just love it all. It is my all time favorite and I think it's one of the most important pieces of gaming history. I replayed the story countless times and the game still puts a smile on my face event after 15 years since I first played it, it is still perfect.

You can play the vanilla version and it will still be satisfying without any graphical mods. Or you can add pretty much anything to the game and have fun your own way with more than 25 fps :) Just don't play the "Definitive" edition, that is a disgrace. And remember to follow that train!

Please note the emphasis on the word "favorite". Nothing can cause an argument faster then declaring a particular GTA as being the BEST. haha. I had the most fun playing San Andreas

So, in this game you're playing as CJ Johnson and there have been some improvements since the days of Tommy Vercetti

No more loading screens, you can now swim and there are even some bare bones RPG elements. You can work out to put on some muscle and if you eat too much you will noticeably gain weight. Stay fit to improve your physical attributes. Change your clothes, go to the barber, play some basketball or pool, or go on a date. These were all new elements to the gameplay

You can also choose to learn different styles of hand-to-hand combat

Many of the cities and regions are based on Los Angeles. In fact, what I loved most about my first time playthrough of this game was how your expectations are subverted. You expect this game to be very urban and that it will be taking place 100% on the streets and then at a certain point you realize that won't be the case

The characters in the game are smart, well written and very memorable. The voice acting is terrific. The graphics leave something to be desired. This came out the same year as Half-Life 2 and there is really no comparison. HL2 still looks pretty great

You can start a gang war, customize your rides and there are numerous mini-games if that's your thing

The plot keeps you interested and is heavily based on the reality of 90's LA. The street gangs, crack epidemic, police corruption and the riots of 1992

I played this on keyboard an mouse and it can make some of the missions quite frustrating. At one point in the game CJ HAS to learn how to fly and I'd be embarrassed to tell you how many hours I spent until I could get that done and progress the game

Still, I loved it!

I've always been torn on San Andreas. It truly is the most superior release in the series in terms of gameplay, size, and customizable aspects. But something got lost along the way.

With all the added features, there just isn't enough to fill the massive landscape, and at the end of the day, just ends up being long roads with nothing to show for it.

Again, like titles before, you end up with tons of money that realistically can't be spent. Customizable cars is a plus, but really the options aren't that great, and leaves some vehicles looking tacky. Yes, buying new clothes is another plus, but again the options aren't that great. Buying houses throughout is fun but really adds nothing to the game other than another save spot.

Graphically this game felt choppier than the previous titles, looking blockier in texture. Driving and shooting mechanics are slightly upgraded with a more complex aiming system.

Again, this is a great game, but it's too big for itself, and it seems some things were sacrificed for it.

Grand theft auto san andreas is a 2004 action and adventure game.Rockstar North, the producer of the game, and Rockstar Games, the distributor, have done a great job.The story of the game is as follows.Newly released from prison, Carl Johnson returns to Los Santos and Grove street.The gameplay is as follows.in this game consisting of 106 chapters, you are trying to complete tasks.The music of the game is beautiful.The graphics of the game are not bad.My rating for the game: 10/10 (y) Good games to everyone 🙂

If there was ever a GTA I would happily return to for another run, it’s this one without doubt. The cast of characters were so diverse that the majority at least left an impression on me in some way, also a quick mention to Officer Tenpenny, infuriating little bastard and rightfully one of the most memorable villains in all of video games. The scope of San Andreas is epic and it’s still equally enjoyable to traverse today, one minute you’re in a big city the next an open desert or quaint countryside. The level of detail put into this game all round is phenomenal, however best to avoid Zero’s mission’s at all costs! Levels of frustration beyond imagine…

I've tried to play this game so many times, and I never got more than a third of the way through before falling off and uninstalling it. But with the definitive edition (that I'm playing on Game Pass, because screw spending 60 bucks on that) I finally made my way through all of it.

First, the elephant in the room - the definitive edition is as ugly as everyone says. It's honestly embarrassing, although as you play through the game it bugs you less. The definitive edition also improves the shooting controls a little bit as well as adds checkpoints and automatic mission restarts, two things whose absence made the original game incredibly frustrating. So while it's ugly as sin and that can't be excused, the gameplay improvements make this the best way to play San Andreas.

It's crazy how much of this game is visible in more modern open-world games like Insomniac's Spider-Man on the PS4 or nearly every Ubisoft game. The hood takeover system is weird because it's introduced, made meaningless, and then made incredibly important, but it's a system that you see all the time now. There's recurring busywork jobs that are mostly used to give you money, and there's a real estate system that's clearly laying the groundwork for GTA V. Honestly, everything here is laying groundwork for GTA V - both the things that work and the things that don't.

But what really made me love this game was the story. It didn't click for a while, as CJ went through a pretty generic hood story with a twist that was shocking the first time I saw it and not at all shocking the tenth. He then leaves the city, doing various jobs for various other people outside of the original area of the game, making money and getting embroiled in more and more complex messes. This was always where I'd fall off, because it felt like the game was completely directionless. But finally pushing through that wall, everything starts to come together incredibly well, and once CJ's brother comes back and CJ is forced to reckon with the state of his home, the game shines. There's riveting drama and emotional heft to everything happening, and by the end of the story the victory, while a little sad, really feels satisfying.

This is far from a perfect game - the number of total crap missions I repeated upwards of 20 times makes that very clear, but when it clicks it's fantastic. I'm glad I finally got through it.

В 2019-м году я перепрошел GTA San Andreas и... у меня к ней те же претензии, что и 14 лет назад.

По-большому счёту у игры всего два больших недостатка. Первый - гигантомания. В игру добавили: кучу побочных занятий по профессиям (курьера, сутенера, полицейского и т. д.), РПГ-элементы, стелс, тюнинг автомобилей, хренову тучу мини-игр и возможность наряжаться в магазинах. Естественно, добавили и кучу нового оружия и транспорта.

Но жить всё это не мешает: при желании всем этим можно не увлекаться и проходить игру как раньше — не запариваясь как персонаж одет и насколько он толстый.

Первая настоящая проблема в том, что San Andreas вообще непомерно разрослась вширь: здесь не три острова, как в предыдущих частях, а три города, между которыми километры пустыней, гор и прочей сельской местности. И после первой четверти игры игрока начинают гонять туда-сюда по гигантской карте из города в город, через все эти пустые поля и горные тропинки. Ближе к концу игры эти поездки утомляют настолько, что от игры просто напросто устаешь.

Да, миссии сделали еще разнообразней, а неадекватно сложных из них - буквально штук пять, но ощущение, что над тобой иногда просто издеваются никуда не исчезло. Например, ближе к концу игры придется лететь в Либерти-Сити из третьей части. Выглядит это так: садишься в самолет и летишь сквозь чисто небо к точке за картой, стреляешь в баре, а потом летишь обратно! Почему нельзя было этот полет показать заставкой?! Потому что иди нахер!

Наконец, в серию завезли вменяемый сценарий. И с ним связана вторая проблема. Начинается игра как нормальное кинцо про черного парня с района. Война банд, нищета, продажные копы и вот это всё. И если не отталкивает тематика, то следить за этим всем интересно. Персонажи как раз в этой части начинают пиздеть во время поездок (почему-то часто вижу претензии, что читать субтитры и рулить сложно), заставки имеют вменяемую продолжительность, а персонажи имеют хоть и карикатурные, но — характеры.

Вот только после отъезда с района игра опять превращается в цирк с конями и нам нужно угонять истребители, воровать джетпак с местной Зоны 51 и творить прочую веселую дичь, которая очень контрастирует с приземленной, простите, драмой, про жизнь на районе.

Концовка же вообще пришита криво и наспех: ВНЕЗАПНО мы возвращаемся на район, где брат начинает нас лечить, что мы забыли о корнях и нам приходится битый час задрачивать унылую, на этот раз обязательную (а не как в начале) войну банд, которая представлена как унылый отстрел волн врагов.

Финальная миссия — адски заскриптованная и затянутая. Сначала унылая зачистка трёх этажей здания, потом поход обратно, опять с отстрелом всего живого, но здание теперь горит. А затем — безумно унылая езда (типа погоня) кругами по всему городу.

В итоге получается, что более-менее цельная история — это начало и концовка. А между ними — набор забавной дичи. Да, веселой и справно написанной, но уж очень оторванной от начала и концовки.

Несмотря на вышеперечисленные недостатки San Andreas — лучшая часть GTA, по крайней мере из так называемой 3D-вселенной. Самая разнообразная, хорошо написанная и интересная.

When I first fired up this old thing i was a bit worried it wasn't gonna be any good. It might be old and faded, and it was popular as a console game... I didnt even know it was available on PC already before playing my prejudices gave me concern.

as you can see, this is a violent video game, obscene and dangerous. there's a lot to be concerned with. It's terrible.

lol There is a lot to like about San Andreas. I had previously found vice city to be the best one in this series. this impressed me more. (It also doesnt feel as dated as Vice City in some ways)

San andreas has a nice theme to it (like vice city) however this theme is probably what stands out the most, and might represent/encapsulate the basic concept of the game (and entire series) the best. Every component of this game runs with the theme the 'gangsta' element and it's actually a work of art (heck even the theme song itself is a medley of different 'west coast whines'. From recreating the scenes of various movies (set in same time period the game takes place) to the voice actors cast which in a way represent said movies and times, in addition two of the radio stations represnet east and west coast, an allegory to the two main gangs rivaling each other in the game. No other GTA game puts together this many things thematically so appropriately and artistically, but even better is the 'real world' elements and controversies that parralel the game (the main one is a bit of a spoiler) and the fictional times in which this game takes place and the actual notoriety and publicity this particular game got...

Between the hot coffee incident and a general media jump scare from violence in media (during the time the game takes place, as well as the coldly toned letter the FBI sent to N.W.A' publisher/distributor) or the fact congress concerned themselves over things like this, it's historic from different angles. It's worth playing just for the controversy behind it alone.

The gameplay is fun and decent. I like the older games (like vice city, and to some extent GTA 4) where you can goof around a bit, GTA V stepping out of line often just wasnt worth it and resulted in a 15 minute car chase that was rather stressful. Here you can start shit in a rival hood and take cover in an alley till things cool off in a few, then walk out like nothing happened. It's fun and I enjoy that kind of pacing. it's also a nice difficulty balance and there arent grave consequences for death or failure. You can recruit 'Hoods' to roll with you (or walk) which again flows in perfect with the theme and it's a feature the other games dont have. (Since your crew doesnt add to your heat meter, they also can take the heat off you and act as shields in occasional gunfights with the police, and even take them out.)

The map itself is the first bigger game GTA had, it links together seveeral cities. It's kinda neat to see what the city looked like before GTA V, a few places have some lore/history to it (such as one of the safe houses in GTA V) i feel its just the right size. I didnt like a lot of the wilderness and areas in GTA V as there was nothing there and it was too easy to feel stranded. IT was also impossible to go anywhere on foot (as opposed to GTA IV) Here you can get around in different ways and there is plenty to do on foot (Which i find most important) theres a good bit of hidden stuff here and there and it feels detailed. alleys are always an option, fences to climb various things that work with the gameplay if you are running from the cops.

the story and characters arent anything special. the voice actors make it a bit amusing thoug hif you are into drawing associations/parralels. The plot and side quests take the usual turns and brick wall type halts that this series does.

the music is quite good. nice selection of stuff in this small window of a time era, but it's not that much music for as long as you might play it. (I added in some Michael Jackson, Front 242, Cybotron, Biosphere, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Foetus, KMFDM, Sisters of Mercy and Meat Beat Manifesto and of course N.W.A - Fuck tha police to the custom station) pretty cool to hear some things like this and you dont hear things like new jack swing in many places. Some stuff is missing. Theres not much top 40 or other things that would have played on the radio. you probably have to be older to appreciate any of this music perhaps, younger players might enjoy the remake of this game that has expanded audio... i certainly would prefer the east and west coast authentic soundtrack however that reflects the time the game took place in.

physics and engine arent as good as what the newer games have, but it works and has feeling and body. combat is similiar. some vechicles are pretty cool like riding a bicycle (it's my favorite vehicle!) or a go kart. the aircraft options are pretty interesting but i dont really like doing that in these games.

the rpg elmenets are nifty. there are physical stats and some skill upgrades (its a bit like GTA V) but minor in how thy effect gameplay and partly flavor cosmmetic, still its worth a mention as its one of the ew to explore this sort of thing, and i love the idea. i enjoyed shopping for clothes in this because here too you find stuff to wear that reflects these times and culture. it also feels as you unlock better clothing stores you start getting 'more professional' and this is a concept that i didnt really feel transcribed itself in the other games in the same way it does in this one (that's just my take) Ultimatley San Andreas ia fun game, it's still a fun game and i'd think it would always be a fun game. It's a historic game too and might as well be the icon of the series as a whole. I dont think they can do something quite like it again or make another GTA game better or tie so many things as well as this one, (i just dont see how that could happen). i wouldnt really see why i'd go back to playing GTAV, but i will definitely keep San Andreas around on my computer for 15 min rage sessions whilst bumpin the N.W.A.